兩首未發行的“李香蘭”歌曲被發現

A few weeks ago the NHK News on-line reported the following:

“李香蘭”の未発表歌 ２曲見つかる

4月11日 22時24分

戦時中、日本人であることを伏せて、李香蘭の名前で女優として歌や映画で活躍し、去年亡くなった山口淑子さんが戦時中に録音したとみられる未発表の歌２曲があることが分かりました。戦地へ赴いた兵士の涙を描いたとみられる歌詞もあり、レコード会社は「戦時中にはそぐわないとして、発売を自粛した可能性もある」としています。

これは東京・渋谷区にある古賀政男音楽文化振興財団に保管されていた音源を山口淑子さんと契約していたレコード会社が確認したものです。それによりますと、見つかった音源はＳＰ盤と呼ばれるレコードで、「雲のふるさと」と「月のしづく」という題名の合わせて２曲が収録されていて、ともに作詞は大木惇夫さん、作曲は古賀政男さんだということです。２曲とも終戦の前の年の昭和１９年１１月に収録されたという資料が残っていて、ＳＰ盤やその包装紙には、曲名や李香蘭の名前のほか、「未発表」などの文字が書かれています。
このうち「雲のふるさと」の歌詞では、「故しらず涙落つるを」など、戦地へ赴き涙ぐむ兵士の思いが描かれているとみられ、レコード会社の資料には「作詩不良の為発売不能」と記されているということです。日本コロムビアの三谷順一さんは「戦意を高揚させるような歌ではなかったため、戦時中にはそぐわないとして、発売を自粛した可能性もある」と推測しています。この歌は今月２９日に発売されるＣＤに収録されるということです。

(試譯文)

It was made clear that during wartime she covered up herself being Japanese, and as an actress active in both singing and in movies using the name of Li Xianglan, Ms. Yoshiko Yamaguchi who passed away last year had 2 unreleased songs that were considered to have been recorded during the War. It was thought that the lyrics could draw tears of those soldiers who went to the front; the record maker supposed that "as they were unsuitable during wartime, there was also a possibility that their sale was restricted".

It was the Masao Koga musical cultural promotion foundation in Tokyo Shibuya district that was keeping the original sound trek while a record company which had a contract with Ms. Yoshiko Yamaguchi confirmed this. According to them, the title of the songs found were respectively "Clouds of hometown" and "Droplets of the moon". Recorded in the so called SP disk, in total two songs were recorded. It was said that together Mr. Masao Koga composed the songs while Mr. Atsuo Ohki wrote the lyrics. The material left behind indicated that the two songs were recorded in November 1944, a year before the end of the War. Written on the SP disk and on the wrapping paper were the characters "unreleased" etc. in addition to song names and the name of Li Xianglan.

Among the lyrics of "Clouds of hometown” were: "I don't know the reason for dropping my tears". It was thought that they described the thoughts of soldiers who were going to the front with tears. It was said that in the data records kept by the record maker they were marked as "not to release due to inappropriate verse". Mr. Junichi Mitani of the Nippon Columbia was guessing that "it's unsuitable during wartime because it wasn't the song that could uplift fighting spirit. And there was also a possibility that the sale was checked". It was said that these two songs were recorded in a CD to be sold on the 29th this month (April).

It is an interesting discovery. It reflects the tight censorship in Japan during WWII.